New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-11-14
EDWARD FITZGERALD.
rup rp.vsrATOR OF OMAR KHAYYAM.

TIE TRANSLATOR OF OMAR KHAYYAM.
WOEKs OF EDWARD FITZGERALD, Translator OF
~. H. $50. NewYork: Hongbtsn Mfii;n & Cot
London: Bernard Quar'tch.
Tha.e handsome volt mes contain the collected
WORKS of an apthor who occnpies peculiar posi-
tion -, rtera..rr OF What is usual y an ierstood
hy ORIGINAL camaoSition lie produced scarcely any
thin Nominaliv il is as translator that he ap-
pa,r, But the proof OF lis re al nfcinall consists
IN the fact that ho impaired to every work done by
him ihiO English So new significance. ~ striking
power. 81 mnch of u beauty peculiarly ina own
gilt. that for all practical purposes the ostcnsibe
trapslations were NV works There are not want
ing many illustrat Vt the kind of metamorphosis
80 wrought. Shakespeare was master hand in
the process. There is scarcely one OF his dramas
which is not founded more or less directly upon some
novel or play of hIs period When seek III the
matr ces o! his dramas the sources Of hs insplra'
ton. perceive at once how little he really owed
TO his models. With hard an exception these are
crude thin, i-iune roor Nowhere do they suggest
the beauty and the majesty with which he has
clothed them. There are mechanical processes IN
which skeleton framework Is immersed IN certain
saturated solutions, and presently tue piastc mat
ter adheras to tie framework In such manner as 10
conceal its crnde outlines. TO cloth" them with suo
stance grateful in appearance and graceful In form,
and finally the foundation of the manufarturc -
altogoi her lost sight Of and the finished work Is
thing of beauty.
So doe. genius cothe upon tue dry bones of fact
II takes for its purposes. SO did the germs OF
Shakespear, with his raw material So, hut with
difference wrought Edward Fitzgerald with the
poems and plays ho NORMALLY translated. lie is
and doubtless "a ways will be best known as the in
PRODUCER of Omar Khayyam, tue Astronomer Poet
of Persia. to western readers. But thojeh the GU
fous afnties which Omar's philosophy clearly
has Will, The materialism of the Nineteenth Cent
urv might have attracted attention to his qua
trains in any English VERSION it is not too much to
say that the beauty and grace OF the rendering
gwen them hy Fitzgerald are the chief causes of
the vogue they have had fnr many years. TIL IN
deed can he ,.stel. whnhcld's translation of the
onatr ms is unuuestiona " more literal than ! IT,
gerald but TO one can compare the two without
rcrc.iving that whereas Omar loses distinctly
THROUGH the fidelity of the translator, lie gaiIs
prororii0natcly t.irOngh the sympathetic breadth
anu free ON OF the other. Fitzgerald in fact never
couiG content himself with mere translation lie
hronrht to his the poetic feeling and the Gre
alive !o;ce as we'll His vers Ons of the Agamemnon
end Of CaiderOn'S dramas are IN point lie has TO-
lourl neither the Greek nor the Spanish at all
closely. He has not OF y paraphrased but In'erpo-
lated. lul in the ease lac has gwen us the full
spirit Of the gual, and in the other he has added
10 the beauty Of that original. by lines and verses
NOT To e Distinguished from he Ideas o. his models
as reg rls nobility either Of conception or eXecu-
ton.
IN the case of Omar Khayyam lie has certainly
bettered hi, or gina. ~ has impaired 10 the qna-
.raias o. tie old Persian stately vigOr, pact
ness of EXPRESSION a huency of illustration whicl
IRE his own; yet ia doing tins lie has taken 10 IN
warrantable freedom, h:y haH he in any sense mis-
,cpre>e nted Omar II j. the same with the Greek
and Spanish traLsatons After passing through
his hands they wear the appearance of Engish
work. They longer suggest alien authorship,
though they retain every thought AMI image tbelr
authors would have wished preserved. in the words
of his BIO rapher, FITZGERALD has gwen Us pert ct
Engsh o. rs insliuct with the true flavor OF their
prototypes" That Is it exactly, and TO DO such
work is given TO few Iuen oI letters.
The volumes before Us contain Omar khayyams
Rui a vat, showing the differences between the
ir-t anl fonIth !ltions Ftz9erald was extremely
fastidions, and made many changes between ell
tons usually in the line % improvements, though
not in, arably. Next in order is free translation
of Solomon aud Absol, from the Persian OF Jaml.
Then follows the Agameninon of Eschyics
perversol, as Fitzgerald himself charac erred y,
but a nob'e H,ece of English poetry, full OF tho
Greek spirit. "Euphranor,' a youthful critical
ESSAY and Polonius." a collection Of wise saws
and mo4erD instances from ri author, make mp
,h. first volume The second is occnpied with
transations OF six of Calderon's plavs, and sort
of glossary of Suffolk sea and coast phrases. The
work i, beautifully printed and substantially
bound.